When a motor vehicle collides with a pedestrian, a bicycle, a motorcycle, or the like during travel, the pedestrian or the like is whisked at the lower half of his/her body by the front portion of a vehicle body of the motor vehicle, and thrown up and then fallen on a hood covering the upper surface of the front portion of the vehicle body, where he/she may be subjected to a secondary collision with the portion of high rigidity, such as a pillar or the like.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2000-264146 discloses a protecting device for pedestrians or the like which is adapted to protect the pedestrian or the like by inflating airbags along a cowl top and left and right A-pillars of the motor vehicle when the motor vehicle collides with the pedestrian or the like, and preventing and protecting the pedestrian or the like from hitting directly against the portion near the cowl top or the A-pillar.
Japanese Patent No. 2888116 (FIG. 7, in particular) discloses a protecting device for a pedestrian or the like including a hood airbag for covering major part of the hood from the center to the rear thereof and pillar airbags for covering the A-pillars.